Viewing Thread:
"Could The Guardian have handed Bush the election?"

OK, so a week or two back G2 initiated a campaign called Operation Clark County, where Guardian readers write a letter to a voter in Clark County, a swing county in Ohio, which is itself a swing state. The point of the campaign was to encourage voters to think about the impact their vote makes on the world, due to America being so influential. But was it a mistake?

Some sample responses:

Dear wonderful, loving friends from abroad,
We Ohioans are an ornery sort and don't take meddling well, even if it comes from people we admire and with their sincere goodwill. We are a fairly closed community overall. In my town of Springfield, I feel that there are some that consider people from the nearby cities of Columbus or Dayton, as "foreigners"- let alone someone from outside our country.
Springfield, Ohio

Have you not noticed that Americans don't give two s***s what Europeans think of us? Each email someone gets from some arrogant Brit telling us why to NOT vote for George Bush is going to backfire, you stupid, yellow-toothed pansies ... I don't give a rat's ass if our election is going to have an effect on your worthless little life. I really don't. If you want to have a meaningful election in your crappy little island full of s****y food and yellow teeth, then maybe you should try not to sell your sovereignty out to Brussels and Berlin, dipshit. Oh, yeah - and brush your goddamned teeth, you filthy animals.
Wading River, NY

Right on! Just wanted to say thanks from California for your effort and concern. This IS a very important election ... There are so many people here in the States that care about the impact America has on the rest of the world. I am personally saddened for the loss of all innocent lives. The best statement Americans can make to the rest of the world is to not elect Bush for president. Thank you so much for getting involved in our world.
California

Consider this: stay out of American electoral politics. Unless you would like a company of US Navy Seals - Republican to a man - to descend upon the offices of the Guardian, bag the lot of you, and transport you to Guantanamo Bay, where you can share quarters with some lonely Taliban shepherd boys.
United States

I am a student and life-long resident of Clark County, Ohio. I just wanted you to know that this is a wonderful idea you've initiated; people here love and respect the United Kingdom, especially the prime minister. I hope this campaign will be successful for your newspaper and for us voters.
Springfield, Ohio

KEEP YOUR F****N' LIMEY HANDS OFF OUR ELECTION. HEY, S**THEADS, REMEMBER THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR? REMEMBER THE WAR OF 1812? WE DIDN'T WANT YOU, OR YOUR POLITICS HERE, THAT'S WHY WE KICKED YOUR ASSES OUT. FOR THE 47% OF YOU WHO DON'T WANT PRESIDENT BUSH, I SAY THIS ... TOUGH S**T!
PROUD AMERICAN VOTING FOR BUSH!

To read the rest of the letters [URL]http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1329728,00.html[/URL] .

I hadn't even heard of this until I stumbled across this Ars Technica article that mentioned it. [URL]http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20041022-4344.html[/URL] It basically just summarises the campaign, mentions the response and the writer points to the similarities between Operation Clark County and when he lived in Louisiana when David Duke ran for governor and the effect people like Dan Akroyd had when urging people not to vote for him. It also mentions how the Guardian's website was hacked.

The follow-up discussion to the Ars Technica article can be found here: [URL]http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=174096756&m=809003207631[/URL] if you want to read more.

So basically, I wanted your views on the whole Operation Clark County thing? How would you react if you had a letter from a complete stranger in a foreign country asking you to vote for somebody in particular? Would you consider writing to people in Clark County (or anywhere else where a similar campaign was run)?

Notorious Biggles wrote:
Oh, yeah - and brush your goddamned teeth, you filthy animals.
> Wading River, NY

---

This actually made me laugh out loud.

> REMEMBER THE WAR OF 1812? WE DIDN'T
> WANT YOU, OR YOUR POLITICS HERE, THAT'S WHY WE KICKED YOUR ASSES OUT.


Presumably they're more than happy to have our soldiers though?

Latin*

We're all speaking a variant of German right now.

Its an interesting idea but trying to sway someone elses vote was pushing it and it's fairly hit and miss about changing peoples ideas or throwing them the "wrong" way. I would expect that a significant proportion of the US really don't give a crap that this election will affect the rest of the world significantly. But it is nice that people are trying to make a difference. Oh and the SAS train agents for other countries including the US. They are the best.

"KEEP YOUR FU**IN' LIMEY HANDS OFF OUR ELECTION. HEY, SHS**THEADS, REMEMBER THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR? REMEMBER THE WAR OF 1812? WE DIDN'T WANT YOU, OR YOUR POLS**TICS HERE, THAT'S WHY WE KICKED YOUR ASSES OUT. FOR THE 47% OF YOU WHO DON'T WANT PRESIDENT BUSH, I SAY THIS ... TOUGH S*S**T!"
PROUD AMERICAN VOTING FOR BUSH!


He remember the French involvement, I wonder?

You appear to have made an error filling out the form used to post a message.


PROBLEM: You have typed more most of your post in CAPS**TAL letters. Some people find this discourteous, as it gives the impression you are shouting, and is not allowed on these forums.

Please go back and correct the problem(s).

Well one perspective, if we pulled out of Iraq the US would be hated even more than it is at the moment.. I dunno, you try and do a country a favour. Politically it's a HUGE favour, we're the only other country supporting them... George Bush and Tony Blair politically are poles apart.

I swear if Kerry doesn't win, the world is in trouble.

Anyone offended by these responses hasn't got a sense of humour.


And if they were intended to be taken seriously?
Then it's still funny, just not intentionally. :-)

Azul DX wrote:
> And the incredibly stereotyping comments ("Go back to sipping
> tea" etc etc) are somewhat hilarious, but worrying nonetheless.

My thoughts exactly after reading all of those comments.

I'm offended.

By their stupidity.

And, guess what. I'm sipping some lovely tea right this second. And I'm proud of it. It's not exactly a negative attribute, is it?

Stupid, stupid people.

"If it wasn't for America, you'd all be speaking German."

That's absolutely outrageous.

And the incredibly stereotyping comments ("Go back to sipping tea" etc etc) are somewhat hilarious, but worrying nonetheless.